


Valley of the Shadow

by thisbluespirit



Category: Dracula (TV 1968)
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/M, Meme, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-12
Updated: 2017-11-12
Packaged: 2019-02-01 10:23:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,052
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12703005
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thisbluespirit/pseuds/thisbluespirit
Summary: The Count's bite has a very different effect this time around...





	Valley of the Shadow

**Author's Note:**

  * For [calliopes_pen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/calliopes_pen/gifts).



> Written for calliopes_pen in a Dreamwidth meme for the prompt Mina & Jonathan - werewolves.

Mina came to herself somewhere out on the hillside in the creeping light of dawn, kneeling and shuddering violently in reaction to something she couldn’t make sense of at first. Then gradually, unwillingly, certain things began to flash back into her mind.

She had been bitten – by a wild dog. A wild dog that was, she knew now, the Count. And then last night, under the full moon, she and Jonathan had changed. She could not remember much of it distinctly, but she could recall running, running so fast she could have been flying, and the feeling of freedom, of hunger –

She stopped her train of thought, putting up a hand to her mouth, realising she could taste blood. She shivered again – and small wonder for she was, shockingly, _stark naked_ outside in late September – and prayed desperately that what she had eaten last night had been a sheep or some other unfortunate creature, and not a human being. She and Jonathan had run straight out onto the moors, hadn’t they? 

“Mina,” said Jonathan, walking through the bushes towards her.

Mina turned away, shocked at his casual disregard for his state. “Jonathan! Please! Neither of us have any clothes!”

“No,” he said, and grinned at her. “Splendid, isn’t it?”

“No, it is _not_!” Mina fought tears. “It’s – it’s _appalling_! What did we do last night?”

He crouched down near her. “Whatever we wanted. At last. I’ve been locked up, chained up – waiting. And here I am – at last!”

“That’s all very well,” said Mina, “but as we are, we’ll both be stuck here unless we can find something to wear. I don’t call that freedom!”

Jonathan laughed. “I’ll go and find us something. Wait here.”

 

Mina must have fallen asleep in sheer exhaustion after he had gone, for it was fully light by the time Jonathan came back wearing a rough, ill-fitting suit. He handed Mina a bundle of cotton and woollen garments, which she took gratefully, even though they were even more assorted than his.

“Where did you find them?”

“Best not to ask,” said Jonathan. Once she was dressed, he held out a hand to her. “Come on.”

“Where?” she asked, letting him lead her. For the moment, she could not see anything else to do, but she could _not_ revel in this transformation as he seemed to. They must at the very least have killed a sheep last night – who knew what it would be next time? And Mina detested the loss of control, of dignity, of her humanity. And, not incidentally, her clothes. Wondering exactly where she might have left her undergarments made her flush with shame.

Jonathan turned back to her. “To _him_. Can’t you feel him nearby?”

Now that he had said it, Mina thought she might know what he meant: some instinct tugging her in a particular direction, or a scent in the air. She shuddered. To her, that was more distasteful than everything else.

 

They walked on and on. To Mina, still tired and, despite whatever it was she had consumed last night, terribly, achingly hungry, it began to feel like a dream. She had no idea where they had woken up or which village they had passed an hour back, or where they were now.

“My children,” said the Count in greeting, waiting there for them as they reached the road. “There you are, at last. This way.” When Mina hung back, he lifted an enquiring eyebrow.

She felt her cheeks heat. “You killed my poor Lucy! Monster!”

“An accident,” he said, spreading his hands out. “A most regrettable accident. She ran – and sometimes the beast will not be tamed.”

“That,” said Mina, drawing herself up to face him, “is what I’m afraid of.” She didn’t think it was any sort of excuse at all.

 

The Count led them to an abandoned house on the edge of a tiny village. He disappeared into the inner room – to rest, he said, and to consult his maps for the journey, but Mina felt sure he needed no maps. He had said that, after the moon had risen, they would run further onwards, down towards Scarborough. There would be a boat waiting somewhere nearby along the coast, and they would sail away from England, where they could run home to Transylvania and be safe from that devilish Professor.

Jonathan took her in his arms. “You’ll get used to it,” he said in her ear. “You’ve no idea yet. You’ll see!”

“I don’t _want_ to,” she said, feeling ridiculously prudish, but none the less determined to be so. “Let me go, Jonathan. I won’t say a word till tomorrow about where you are going. But let me go!”

He hesitated, his grip on her tightening. There was new strength to it, she realised. Perhaps she had something of it, too, but she couldn’t feel it – not yet. 

“That Professor might shoot you. He was talking about silver bullets last time I saw him.”

“If that is the only way to stop it,” said Mina, “then so be it.” Inconsequently, she thought of Lucy: where Lucy had gone she could follow. Where Lucy had gone, she wanted to follow. That loss was the worst of her pains, even now. She would go back to John and the Professor and throw herself on their mercy, and hopefully the Professor would know either how to restrain her or how to destroy her.

Jonathan faced her, pulling her round. “No, no, we can be together – and with _him_! It’ll be _life_ , real life, not this bloodless, respectable shadow!”

She let him kiss her violently without objection, even let him bite her in play, but every touch only pushed her true self further away from him, retreating from what he was and she could become. 

“You don’t want me,” she said once he’d finally finished. “The Count is enough, isn’t he? That much I _have_ learned these past few weeks.”

Jonathan released her and then gave a sulky shrug. “The door’s over there,” he said. “There’s a train station at the bottom of the hill. I won’t say a word – and he’s busy. But Mina –”

She turned around in the doorway.

He grinned again, the wolf glinting in his eyes. “Time is passing, you know – you’d better pray the train isn’t delayed!”


End file.
